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Abstract:

A method for social interacting, including using a portable messaging
device for designating, from time to time, a plurality of friends,
selecting a mood, sending one or more representations of the selected
mood to each of the plurality of designated friends, further selecting an
updated mood, and further sending one or more representations of the
updated mood to each of the plurality of designated friends, to supersede
the previously sent one or more representations of the mood. A user
interface is also described and claimed.

Claims:

1.-16. (canceled)

17. A user interface for social interacting using a portable messaging
device, comprising: a display for displaying representations of moods of
a first plurality of friends; an activatable mood selector for selecting
one of several moods; and an activatable update button for sending one or
more representations of the selected mood to a second plurality of
friends.

18. The user interface of claim 17 wherein at least one of the one or
more representations of the selected mood is an image.

19. The user interface of claim 18 wherein the image comprises a picture
or caricature of someone in accordance with the selected mood.

20. The user interface of claim 17 further comprising a camera for
capturing a photo, and wherein at least one of the one or more
representations of the selected mood is the photo captured by said
camera.

25. The user interface of claim 17 further comprising a slider bar for
selecting a strength of the selected mode, wherein a representation of
the selected strength is also sent to the second plurality of friends
when said update button is activated.

26. The user interface of claim 17 further comprising a jog dial for
selecting a strength of the selected mode, wherein a representation of
the selected strength is also sent to the second plurality of friends
when said update button is activated.

27. The user interface of claim 17 further comprising a knob dial for
selecting a strength of the selected mode, wherein a representation of
the selected strength is also sent to the second plurality of friends
when said update button is activated.

28. The user interface of claim 17 further comprising a mufti-level
switch for selecting a strength of the selected mode, wherein a
representation of the selected strength is also sent to the second
plurality of friends when said update button is activated.

29. The user interface of claim 17 further comprising a pressure switch
for selecting a strength of the selected mode, wherein a representation
of the selected strength is also sent to the second plurality of friends
when said update button is activated.

30. The user interface of claim 17 further comprising a slider bar for
designating whereabouts of the portable messaging device, wherein the
designated whereabouts are also sent to the second plurality of friends
when said update button is activated.

31. The user interface of claim 17 further comprising a jog dial for
designating whereabouts of the portable messaging device, wherein the
designated whereabouts are also sent to the second plurality of friends
when said update button is activated.

32. The user interface of claim 17 further comprising a knob dial for
designating whereabouts of the portable messaging device, wherein the
designated whereabouts are also sent to the second plurality of friends
when said update button is activated.

33. The user interface of claim 17 further comprising a mufti-level
switch for designating whereabouts of the portable messaging device,
wherein the designated whereabouts are also sent to the second plurality
of friends when said update button is activated.

34. The user interface of claim 17 further comprising a plurality of
LEDs, for indicating when a mood of a friend from the first plurality of
friends has been updated.

35. The user interface of claim 17 wherein the first plurality of friends
is the same as the second plurality of friends.

36. The user interface of claim 17 wherein the first plurality of friends
is different than the second plurality of friends.

37. The user interface of claim 17 wherein the selected mood is published
to one or more social networks when said update button is activated.

Description:

CROSS REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] This application is a continuation-in-part of assignee's pending
application U.S. Ser. No. 12/146,710, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,616,948, filed
on Jun. 26, 2008 by inventor Dov Moran, entitled DEVICE AND SYSTEM FOR
SELECTIVE WIRELESS COMMUNICATION WITH CONTACT LIST MEMORY, which is a
continuation of U.S. Ser. No. 10/770,505, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,398,081,
filed on Feb. 4, 2004 by inventor Dov Moran, entitled DEVICE AND SYSTEM
FOR SELECTIVE WIRELESS COMMUNICATION WITH CONTACT LIST MEMORY.

[0003] The field of the present invention is portable messaging devices.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0004] Social network services are used to build online communities of
people who share common interests. Most social network services are
Internet-based, and enable users to communicate using instant messaging,
e-mail messages, web pages, web blogs, and other forms of communication.
Examples of popular social network services today include FACEBOOK®,
developed by Facebook, Inc. of Palo Alto, Calif., MYSPACE®, developed
by MySpace, Inc. of Los Angeles, Calif., TWITTER®, developed by
Twitter, Inc. of San Francisco, Calif., LINKEDIN®, developed by
LinkedIn Corp. of Mountain View, Calif., NEXOPIA®, developed by
Nexopia.com, Inc. of Edmonton, Alberta, and XING®, developed by Xing,
AG of Hamburg, Germany.

[0005] Many social network services enable a user to publish his status,
such as "available", "off-line", "busy" or "away". However, only users
who actively opt-in to be updated of a specific user's status are
notified of the specific user's status updates.

[0006] It would this be of advantage to enable users to send updates of
their statuses to designated sets of friends, without requiring the
friends to opt-in.

SUMMARY OF THE DESCRIPTION

[0007] Aspects of the present invention relate to a "portable messaging
device" that sends and receives information about "moods" of friends. The
term portable messaging device refers to an electronic communication
device that enables sending and receiving notifications from other such
devices. Portable messaging devices include inter alia cell phones, and
laptop computers such as ultra-mobile PCs, mobile Internet devices and
tablet laptops. A mood is a selectable descriptor such as "happy", "sad",
"tired" and "surprised", for indicating the status of a user. A mood may
also have a selectable strength associated therewith, indicating how
happy, how sad, how tired, or how surprised the user is.

[0008] The portable messaging device of the present invention includes a
user interface that facilitates specifying and publishing a user's mood
and other status information, such as a user's whereabouts, and that
displays friends' current moods.

[0009] The portable messaging device enables a user to designate a set of
one or more friends, referred to as "friends-to-notify", who receive
notifications of the user's mood updates. Mood information is transmitted
to the friends-to-notify in the form of a message, including an image
representing the user's current mood, and an optional color-code or text
descriptor representing the user's current whereabouts.

[0010] The present invention is useful in stimulating communication among
friends.

[0011] The present invention may be integrated with existing social
network services, such that a user's mood setting on the portable
messaging device is automatically propagated to his social networks.

[0012] There is thus provided in accordance with an embodiment of the
present invention a method for social interacting, including using a
portable messaging device for designating, from time to time, a plurality
of friends, selecting a mood, sending one or more representations of the
selected mood to each of the plurality of designated friends, further
selecting an updated mood, and further sending one or more
representations of the updated mood to each of the plurality of
designated friends, to supersede the previously sent one or more
representations of the mood.

[0013] There is additionally provided in accordance with an embodiment of
the present invention a method for social interacting, including using a
portable messaging device for designating by a user, from time to time, a
plurality of friends, including receiving by the user, from each of the
plurality of friends, an invitation of friendship, and accepting by the
user, the received invitations, displaying one or more representations of
a friend's mood for at least one of the plurality of designated friends,
receiving one or more updated representations of a friend's mood from at
least one of the plurality of designated friends, and updating the
displaying according to the received one or more updated representations.

[0014] There is further provided in accordance with an embodiment of the
present invention a user interface for social interacting using a
portable messaging device, including a display for displaying
representations of moods of a first plurality of friends, an activatable
mood selector for selecting one of several moods, and an activatable
update button for sending one or more representations of the selected
mood to a second plurality of friends.

[0015] There is yet further provided in accordance with an embodiment of
the present invention a means for wirelessly communicating with a
plurality of friends that have portable messaging devices, via phone,
SMS, MMS or such other medium of wireless communication.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0016] The present invention will be more fully understood and appreciated
from the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the
drawings in which:

[0017] FIG. 1 is a simplified diagram of a mood-based messaging device, in
accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

[0018]FIG. 2 is an illustration of a screen displaying moods of a user's
friends-to-monitor, in accordance with an embodiment of the present
invention;

[0019]FIG. 3 is an illustration of a screen displaying mood information
for a friend-to-monitor, in accordance with an embodiment of the present
invention;

[0020]FIG. 4 is a simplified flowchart of operation of the mood-based
messaging device of FIG. 1 for notifying friends of a user's mood, in
accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

[0021] FIG. 5 is a simplified flowchart of operation of the mood-based
messaging device of FIG. 1 for monitoring friends' moods, in accordance
with an embodiment of the present invention;

[0022]FIG. 6 is an illustration of a communication system constructed and
operative in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

[0023]FIG. 7 is an illustration of a modular cell phone being inserted
into a jacket, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;
and

[0024]FIG. 8 is a simplified block diagram of a modular cell phone and a
jacket in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0025] Aspects of the present invention relate to a portable messaging
device, for sending and receiving information about a user's moods and
moods of his friends.

[0026] Reference is made to FIG. 1, which is a simplified diagram of a
mood-based messaging device 100, in accordance with an embodiment of the
present invention. Mood-based messaging device 100 is operative to set a
user's current mood, to notify designated friends of the user's mood, and
vice versa to notify the user of others' moods.

[0027] In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, a mood
is a descriptor for a user. Examples of moods may include inter alia
"happy", "sad", "tired", "open for suggestions" and "surprised". A mood
may have a strength/intensity associated therewith, reflecting how happy,
how sad, how tired or how surprised the user is. Examples of
strengths/intensities may include inter alia "very" surprised, "quite"
surprised, "moderately" surprised, "mildly" surprised, "somewhat"
surprised, "a bit" surprised" and "hardly" surprised.

[0028] Optionally, with a mood may be associated one or more
representations of the mood. A representation of a mood may be, inter
alia, (i) a descriptive word or phrase, (ii) an image showing a picture
or caricature of the user, or of someone or something else, in accordance
with the mood, (iii) an audio clip, in accordance with the mood, or (iv)
a video clip, in accordance with the mood. The user may change the one or
more representations of his mood from time to time. In addition, the
strength/intensity of a mood may be represented inter alia by color
coding the representation of the mood, by adding an adjective to the
representation of the mood, and/or by size of the representation of the
mood.

[0029] Further in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention,
a user designates one or more friends, referred to herein as
"friends-to-notify", to whom he would like to send his mood information.
In addition, the user may also designate one or more friends, referred to
herein as "friends-to-monitor", from whom he would like to receive their
mood information. It is understood that the friends-to-notify and the
friends-to-monitor may be the same set of friends, or different sets of
friends.

[0030] Generally, mood-based messaging device 100 stores a list of the
user's contacts. In accordance with an embodiment of the present
invention, contacts listed in the user's contact list in mood-based
messaging device 100 may be automatically designated as the user's
friends-to-notify. Alternatively, the user may manually select his
friends-to-notify from the entries in his contact list. Further in
accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the image
displayed by default for a member of the friends-to-monitor is an image
that is stored for the member in the user's contact list.

[0031] Generally, there are several people whom a user would like to
notify of his moods, such as his family and best friends. The user does
not need to designate the members of his friends-to-notify every time he
wishes to notify them of his mood. Instead, the user can designate the
members of his friends-to-notify once, and update his friends-to-notify
every so often, or whenever the need arises based on a change in
relationship between the user and a specific person.

[0032] In some embodiments of the present invention, when User A
designates User B as an entry to his friends-to-notify list, User B is
asked to approve the entry. Upon approval, User A is automatically
designated as one of User B's friends-to-monitor. User A then receives a
confirmation that User B has agreed to be a member of User A's
friends-to-notify, and that User A has been designated as a member of
User B's friends-to-monitor. In accordance with an embodiment of the
present invention, in reciprocity User B automatically offers User A to
be designated as a member of User B's friends-to-notify list.

[0033] Mood-based messaging device 100 includes a display 110, shown at
the left of FIG. 1 displaying four mood images, for four friends, Tom,
Jack, Jenny and Michael, from among the user's friends-to-monitor. Each
image shows one of the friends according to the friend's mood.

[0034] When there are too many friends to display all of their mood images
at once, the user may specify that the images be displayed according to
most recent mood updates. Alternatively or additionally, the user may
specify some friends whose mood images are always to be displayed.
Alternatively or additionally, the user may specify some friends whose
mood images are not to be displayed. For example, the user may specify
that the mood images of his best two friends are always to be displayed,
and two additional mood images most recently updated are also to be
displayed.

[0035] Display 110 is shown at the right of FIG. 1 displaying the user's
mood and whereabouts; namely, a happy face and an outdoor picture.
Mood-based messaging device 100 includes a panel of buttons 120, for a
user to select his mood from among a plurality of moods. Alongside
buttons 120 is a slider bar 125 for selecting a strength/intensity of a
mood. In another embodiment of the present invention, the
strength/intensity of a mood is selected using a force sensor, such as
the pressure touch sensor developed and manufactured by Peratech Limited
of North Yorkshire, United Kingdom.

[0036] In an embodiment of the present invention, a dedicated button is
used to switch display 110 from displaying the user's mood to displaying
the friends-to-monitor's moods.

[0037] Mood-based messaging device 100 includes another slider bar 130,
for indicating the user's whereabouts, such as at home, at work, in a
car, in bed sleeping, outdoors and in the rain. In accordance with an
embodiment of the present invention, the user's whereabouts may be
specified in terms of real coordinates, in terms of relative coordinates,
or in terms of location relative to a friend's location, as described in
provisional patent application U.S. Ser. No. 61/163,479, filed on Mar.
26, 2009, entitled LOCATING MOBILE CONTACTS USING A GEO-CONTACT LIST, the
contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.

[0038] In an embodiment of the present invention, mood-based messaging
device 100 calculates the distances from the user's location to the
friends-to-monitor's locations, and provides the whereabouts of the
friends-to-monitor as distances from the user's whereabouts.

[0039] Mood-messaging device 100 includes an update button 140, for
sending the user's mood updated information to his friends-to-notify. The
user's updated mood information includes inter alia one or more of (i) a
representation of the user's updated mood, (ii) a representation of the
user's updated whereabouts, (iii) a text message, (iv) an audio
notification in the form of an audio clip, and (v) a time stamp,
indicating the time & date of the current mood update.

[0040] The user's updated whereabouts may be represented by GPS
coordinates, by cell data, and/or include friendly name descriptors such
as "at home" or "in school". Alternatively or additionally, the user's
updated whereabouts may include a text description such as "100 meters
from you." The user's updated whereabouts may be displayed by color
coding or such other emphasis based on the user's proximity to the
friend.

[0041] Similarly, whereabouts of friends-to-monitor, which are received by
mood-based messaging device 100 in GPS coordinate representation, may be
translated to a friendly name descriptor or a text description for
display.

[0042] The user's updated mood may be represented inter alia by an image
of the user in accordance with the mood, such as an image of the user
being happy, or an image of the user being tired. The image is stored in
mood-based messaging device 100, and selected by associating the user's
mood therewith. Alternatively, the user captures an updated picture of
himself representing his current mood. The updated picture is stored as
the new picture associated with the mood. Yet alternatively, the old
picture remains associated with the user's mood and the new picture is
sent during an update.

[0043] The strength/intensity of the user's updated mood may be
represented inter alia by color coding the representation of the user's
mood or by color coding the text message, by adding an adjective to the
representation of the user's mood or by adding an adjective to the text
message, and/or by display size of the representation of the user's mood
or display size of the text message, and/or by use of a color bar.

[0044] Mood-based messaging device 100 includes a plurality of LEDs 150,
for indicating that one or more of the user's friends-to-monitor, has
updated his mood.

[0045] When display 110 is a touch-sensitive display, the images of the
moods of the friends-to-monitor that are displayed, as shown in the left
side of FIG. 1, are functional, upon touch selection, to easily activate
individual or group communication with one or more of the friends. Thus
the user, in response to a change of mood status in a friend-to-monitor,
may communicate with the friend by voice call, text message, MMS or such
other medium of communication.

[0046] Reference is made to FIG. 2, which is an illustration of a screen
210 displaying moods of a user's friends-to-monitor, in accordance with
an embodiment of the present invention. Screen 210 may be a touch
sensitive screen, or a non-touch sensitive screen. Screen 210 displays
four frames, displaying four out of ten friends-to-monitor moods. Frame
220 shows friend-to-monitor John Smith in a "Very Angry" mood. Frame 230
shows friend-to-monitor David Cohen in a "Thrilled" mood. Frame 240 shows
friend-to-monitor Sarah Connor in a "Sad" mood. Frame 250 shows
friend-to-monitor Jim Pearl in an "Exhausted" mood.

[0047] Each frame includes data for various fields. In particular, frame
220 includes data for fields 221-228 listed in TABLE I.

TABLE-US-00001
TABLE I
Data fields displayed for the mood of a friend-to-monitor
Field Description
Name 221 The friend's name, generally taken from a local
contact list.
Distance 222 Distance away from user. Generally the distance is
displayed only if it is less than a pre-specified
threshold, such as 1 km. Larger distances are not
displayed.
Missed moods 223 The number of the friend's mood notifications that
the user has not reviewed.
Image 224 A representation of the mood, selected by the
friend. If the friend does not attach an image, the
image may be a default image associated with the
mood, or an image associated with the friend in the
user's contact list.
Location 225 Location chosen by the friend, either a default
location, a location from a pre-defined list, or a
location entered manually by the friend.
Mood 226 A mood selected from a pre-defined list, or a
custom mood entered manually by the friend.
Strength 227 A magnitude for the mood, either color-coded or an
adjective preceding the mood, or a number
following the mood.
Time 228 The time the mood was sent.

[0048] In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, when the
user receives a new mood notification from John Smith, frame 220 is
indicated as being "unread". Such indication may be in the form of a
blinking graphic, a special border 229 of frame 220, a special color, and
other such displays. A new mood notification may also or alternatively be
indicated by a sound, or a vibration, or a light.

[0049] To "read" a new mood notification from a friend-to-monitor, the
user selects the new mood, by pressing on screen 210 at the location of
the new mood notification, if screen 210 is a touch-sensitive screen, or
by navigating to the new mood and selecting it, or by such other
selection command from a user interface.

[0050] Reference is made to FIG. 3, which is an illustration of a screen
310 displaying mood information for a friend-to-monitor, in accordance
with an embodiment of the present invention. Shown in FIG. 3 is a mood of
friend-to-monitor John Smith, corresponding to the new mood notification
in frame 220 of FIG. 2. Screen 310 is activated by selecting frame 220 of
FIG. 2. Screen 310 includes four frames; namely, [0051] frame 320 with
John Smith's current mood information; [0052] frame 330 with a history of
John Smith's most recent moods 331-334; [0053] frame 340 with alerts 341
and 342 related to John Smith; and [0054] frame 350 with actions that can
be performed for John Smith, such as an action 351 for calling him, or an
action 352 for sending him an SMS message, or an action 353 for sending
him an e-mail. The number of recent moods displayed in history frame 330
is user-configurable.

[0055] Reference is made to FIG. 4, which is a simplified flowchart of
operation of mood-based messaging device 100 for notifying friends of a
user's mood, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
At step 410, the user designates one or more friends to receive his mood
updates; i.e., the user designates his friends-to-notify. Step 410 is
performed periodically, and not necessarily at the times when the user
notifies friends of his mood. As such, there is no flow arrow in FIG. 4
between step 410 and step 420.

[0056] At step 420, the user updates his mood. For example, the user may
select a "happy" mood and select a strength/intensity of "very". The user
may also include a text message, such as "I saw the new movie and it is
fantastic." The user may also capture a picture of himself and associate
it with his "happy" mood.

[0057] At step 430, the user sends information about his updated mood to
his friends-to-notify. In accordance with an embodiment of the present
invention, step 430 may alternatively be implemented by using message
circulation, according to co-pending patent application U.S. Ser. No.
12/325,210, filed on Nov. 30, 2008, entitled METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR
CIRCULATING MESSAGES, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by
reference. According to such embodiment, the user sends his updated mood
to a first friend-to-notify, and the update is circulated in sequence
through all of the friends-to-notify. As such, the loop over all friends
in FIG. 4 is shown in dashed lines, indicating that it is not necessarily
required.

[0058] Thereafter, each friend who has a mood-based messaging device 100,
as determined at step 440, receives the user's text message and a
representation of the user's updated mood displayed in a form similar to
that shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, including inter alia an image with a picture
or caricature of the user, or someone else, in accordance with his
updated mood, at step 450. The friend's display 110 is automatically
updated, and the user's updated mood supersedes the user's previous mood.

[0059] In one embodiment of the present invention, friends who do not have
a mood-based messaging device 100 receive only the user's text message
without the richer media, at step 460. In another embodiment of the
present invention, friends who do not have a mood-based messaging device
100 receive an MMS message, but the message is not processed for
automatic display of the user's updated mood, nor for arrangement of the
user's updated mood as in FIGS. 2 and 3. Instead, the friend views the
updated mood by conventional incoming MMS message processing. In
distinction, friends who do have a mood-based messaging device 100, see
the user's mood automatically updated on their display 110 in an
organized convenient fashion, such as the displays shown in FIGS. 2 and
3.

[0060] It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that
notification of a user's updated mood to his friends at step 450 and/or
step 460 may be performed inter alia via the medium of an SMS message,
via an MMS message, via an e-mail message, via a web-browser, or via a
central server. In the central server embodiment, users send their
updated moods to a mailbox on the server, and the server sends
representations of the updated moods to the users' friends-to-notify.

[0061] In response to being notified about the user's updated mood,
friends may call or send a message to the user at step 470. The user
continues to update his mood at step 420, as appropriate.

[0062] It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the present
invention may be integrated with conventional social networking services,
to propagate the user's mood updates to his social networks.

[0063] In an embodiment of the present invention, the user may optionally
limit the number of mood updates that he sends; e.g., no more than 50
messages per day. Similarly, the friends may also optionally limit the
numbers of messages they receive.

[0064] Reference is made to FIG. 5, which is a simplified flowchart of
operation of the mood-based messaging device 100 for monitoring friends'
moods, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. At step
510, the user's friends-to-monitor are designated. In accordance with an
embodiment of the present invention, such designation occurs
automatically when the user approves being designated as a member of each
friend's friends-to-notify list. I.e., when the user receives an
invitation from a friend, to be a member of the friend's
friends-to-notify list, and the user accepts the invitation, then the
friend is automatically designated as one of the user's
friends-to-monitor.

[0065] Step 510 is performed periodically, and not necessarily at the
times when the user receives notifications of his friends' moods. As
such, there is no flow arrow in FIG. 5 between step 510 and step 520.

[0066] At step 520, one of the designated friends updates his mood. For
example, the friend may select a "happy" mood and select a
strength/intensity of "very". The friend may also include a text message,
such as "I saw the new movie and it is fantastic." At step 530, the user
receives information about the friend's updated mood, including, in
accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, a text message
and an image of the friend according to his happy mood. The friend's
updated mood is organized and arranged on the user's display 110 as in
FIGS. 2 and 3.

[0067] In response to being notified about the friend's updated mood, the
user may call or send a message to the friend at step 540. The friend
continues to update is moods at step 520, as appropriate.

[0068] It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the present
invention is instrumental in stimulating communication among friends.

[0069] In order to further stimulate communication, according to an
embodiment of the present invention, a user may "nudge" one or more of
his friends-to-notify, by sending communications that generate an audio,
a visual or a tactile vibration alert on the friends' mood-based
messaging devices.

[0070] One implementation of the present invention uses a "jacket" into
which a modular cell phone may be inserted. A iacket is defined herein to
mean a device that provides an enhanced user interface for the modular
cell phone, enriches the capabilities of the modular cell phone, and is
generally not able to operate independently when the modular cell phone
is not connected thereto.

[0071] Reference is now made to FIG. 6, which is an illustration of a
communication system constructed and operative in accordance with an
embodiment of the present invention. Shown in FIG. 6 are a plurality of
modular cell phones 600a-600c, including 2.5G cell phones for a GSM
network, 3G cell phones for GSM network, and CDMA cell phones for a CDMA
network. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the
networks illustrated in FIG. 6 are exemplary of a wide variety of
networks and communication protocols that are supported by the modular
cell phones, such networks and communication protocols including inter
alia WiFi, Bluetooth and WiMax.

[0072] Also shown in FIG. 6 is a plurality of jackets 700a-700h. In
accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, each modular cell
phone 600a-600c may be inserted into any of jackets 700a-700h, so as to
operate in combination therewith. Modular cell phones 600a-600c are
substantially of the same form factor and, as such, are able to be
inserted into each of jackets 700a-700h.

[0073] One type of jacket 700, referred to herein as a "mood jacket",
corresponds to the mood-based messaging device 100 of FIG. 1. Modular
cell phone 600 provides the message communication functionality, and mood
jacket 700 provides a mood-based user interface, such as the user
interface shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

[0074] Reference is further made to FIG. 7, which is an illustration of a
modular cell phone 600 being inserted into a jacket 700, in accordance
with an embodiment of the present invention. Jacket 700 as shown in FIG.
7 includes a hollow cavity at the top for insertion of modular cell phone
600 therein.

[0075] Reference is now made to FIG. 8, which is a simplified block
diagram of modular cell phone 600 and jacket 700 in accordance with an
embodiment of the present invention. Modular cell phone 600 includes
eight primary components, as follows: a controller 610, a modem 620 for
sending and receiving voice and data, a user interface 630, a memory
storage 640, a power amplifier 660, an antenna 670, a connector 680 for
connecting the modular cell phone to jacket 700 when the modular cell
phone is inserted into jacket 700, and a subscriber identification module
(SIM) 690.

[0076] Controller 610 executes programmed instructions that control the
data flow between modular cell phone 600 and jacket 700. Modem 620
controls the communication functionality of modular cell phone 600. User
interface 630 includes a display screen 631 and a keypad 632. User
interface 630 may optionally include additional components (not shown)
such as a microphone, a headset audio jack, an earpiece, a mono speaker
or stereo speakers, and a vibrator.

[0077] Power amplifier 660 includes a radio frequency (RF) interface 665,
and is connected to antenna 670.

[0078] In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the
interface between controller 610 and storage 640, and the interface
between controller 610 and modem 620 are both SD interfaces. The
interface between controller 610 and connector 680 is a custom interface.

[0079] Modular cell phone 600 may also include an optional power
management subsystem 650, which includes charging circuitry for charging
a battery 655.

[0080] In some embodiments of the present invention, modular cell phone
600 is operable as a standalone phone. In other embodiments of the
present invention, modular cell phone 600 is not operable as a standalone
phone, and may be missing some of the components shown in FIG. 8, such
display screen 631 or keypad 632.

[0081] Jacket 700 includes four primary components, as follows: a
controller 710, a user interface 730, a memory storage 740, and a
connector 780 for connecting the jacket to modular cell phone 600 when
modular cell phone 600 is inserted into the jacket. Jacket 700 may also
include an optional power management subsystem 750 and an optional
battery 755.

[0082] In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the
interface between controller 710 and storage 740 is an SD interface. The
interface between controller 710 and connector 780 is a custom interface.

[0083] User interface 730 of the mood jacket may have controls as shown in
FIG. 1. Specifically user interface 730 includes a display 110, buttons
120 for selecting a mood, a slider bar 125 for selecting a strength of a
mood, a slider bar 130 for designated the user's whereabouts, a button
140 for updating the user's friends-to-notify about the user's current
mood, and LEDs 150 for indicating when a friend's mood has changed. User
interface 730 may optionally include additional components (not shown),
such as a microphone, a headset audio jack, an earpiece, a mono speaker
or stereo speakers, and a vibrator.

[0084] It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that different
types of user interface controls may be used to implement the mood
jacket, instead of those shown in FIG. 1. For example, selection of a
mood may be performed by a knob dial, a jog dial, a slider or a plurality
of buttons. Similarly, selection of the strength of a mood may be
performed using a multi-level switch, a jog dial or a pressure switch,
instead of slider bar 125. Similarly, selection of a user's whereabouts
may be performed using a multi-level switch, a jog dial or a pressure
switch, instead of slider bar 130.

[0085] In the foregoing specification, the invention has been described
with reference to specific exemplary embodiments thereof. It will,
however, be evident that various modifications and changes may be made to
the specific exemplary embodiments without departing from the broader
spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.
Accordingly, the specification and drawings are to be regarded in an
illustrative rather than a restrictive sense.